


Time and Space

by TheJaguar (Spiderboat)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiderboat/pseuds/TheJaguar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assorted snippets and prompts (usually) centered around Pearl and Peridot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pearlidot - Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was "Pearlidot meeting." Likely not as fluffy as my friend intended. :3c [s u f f e r]

It's habit for most creatures to go somewhere familiar when in a state of distress. Dogs, when they have been left alone for a long time, may seek out the familiar scent of their owners by ripping up socks, shoes, and other personal items, and scattering them in a protective circle around their bodies. Migrating butterflies fly patterns that existed one hundred million years ago, and while we might chuckle at them for flying over an open lake as though a mountain stands in its place, can we blame the panicked rush of thousands of tiny creatures who stay on this planet for only a few short weeks before dying? House cats, when they have been abandoned, will run into any open house they can find, for they know they belong in a house, even if the house they are used to has become inaccessible to them.

It should not, then, be all too surprising to find that Peridot found herself in Beach City after losing her foot to the Crystal Gems.

When she had tired herself out from helicoptering for miles and miles, Peridot simply allowed her exhausted body to land on the first surface that seemed familiar and welcoming. Spying the soft, white sand of a beach, she braced herself and allowed herself to land roughly. Panting, she looked up and examined her surroundings. Dark ocean on one side, a somewhat busy town on the other, and a tiny house just ahead on the beach, and behind it...

Peridot blinked. Were giant carvings of exceptionally tall people with six arms common in human towns? She ran a few scanners and confirmed that this was not, in fact, a human artifact, but a gem temple. Maybe this was where the Crystal Gems lived?

A tiny wave lapped at Peridot's one good foot and she squeaked anxiously. She had had little experience with water but knew that it was very, very bad for her. Scrambling away on her backside, Peridot looked for anywhere to hide. Under that beach house seemed like a good idea. She could at least stay there for a few hours, catch her breath, get another plan going, and try once again to go back to Homeworld.

The sand made it impossible to stand, however. Ejecting her foot had made it difficult to maintain her balance. Eventually, Peridot settled for crawling underneath the deck. It was wide and high compared to some of her other hideouts, usually eyries and caves. Perhaps the occasional lean-to constructed from plywood or a piece of scrap tin. Compared to that, a sandy refuge under a warm house on the beach was paradise. (Even if she could see quite a few spiders.)

Peridot stared up at the white wood above her. Sand was starting to uncomfortably fill her joints, slipping between her flesh and the new prosthetics given to her. She grimaced, knowing she was simply too exhausted to take care of that now. It would have to wait until morning. And though Peridot tried not to, sleep eventually overtook her.

* * *

Steven woke in his bed to the golden light of summer dawn. He yawned and stretched like a lion cub, groggily hopping out of bed and padding down the staircase. None of the other gems were up yet, but that was fine. He was more than capable of taking care of himself for a few hours. Steven fixed himself a bowl of his favorite cereal, poured the milk, and was about to grab the newspaper to read the Sunday morning comics before realizing that he hadn't gotten it yet. Chuckling at his lapse in memory, Steven walked outside in his blue kittycat pajamas.

He walked down the steps of the porch, seeing the gray lump of the paper at the bottom of the stairs. Reaching down to grab it in his small hand, he saw a flash of color out of the corner of his eye. And then a tiny sound like... snoring?

Newspaper in hand, Steven turned around on the stairs, looking under the porch. He covered his mouth so as not to gasp audibly. There, under his house, lay a sleeping Peridot.

_I gotta tell the others!_   Steven thought, racing up the steps as quietly as he could. He threw open the door, tossing the paper carelessly to the side. 

"Pearl! Amethyst! Garnet!" he called, banging on the temple door but trying to keep his voice low. "You gotta come out here quick, it's an emergency!"

Almost immediately, the door to Pearl's room opened, her spear already in hand. "Steven!" she shouted, scooping him up under her arm. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"Shhh, keep your voice down!" Steven said, placing a finger to Pearl's lips. "Come outside with me, real quick! Peridot's there!"

"Peridot?" Pearl echoed, her voice low and gentle. "Steven, are you sure you're not just remembering a bad dream?"

Steven shook his head violently. "No, I'm telling you, she's right there, under the porch!"

Pearl regarded her young charge carefully, setting him back down. She didn't withdraw her spear. "All right," she conceded. "Let's go see."

Steven resented that she was talking to him like a child who insisted that the Tooth Fairy was in his room, but it was the best he could do for now. He led the way back outside, opening the front door as quietly as possible and training his bare feet to step just as softly. He got to the bottom of the steps and, to his relief, Peridot was still there.

"See?" he asked her.

Pearl couldn't help but stare for a moment. He was  _right._ There she lay, curled up in the fetal position and snoring peacefully. This seemed too easy. She clutched her spear tight, approaching her. "Stay back," she ordered Steven, and he obeyed.

Gently at first, then forcefully, Pearl kicked Peridot in the side to rouse her. "Peridot," she spat.

Peridot gasped, startled. Her eyes widened further upon recognizing Pearl. She flipped back like a turtle in distress, attempting to aim her laser cannon. "St-stay back! How did you get here?!"

Pearl almost laughed. "You're actually directly under our house, genius."

"Wha-?! Y-you mean, this is...?" Peridot looked back at the temple, then at the beach house attached directly to it. She slapped herself in the face, dragging her fingers down it dramatically. "Of course it is. What luck."

Steven bolted forward, puffing out his chest and putting on his best Serious Steven face. "Surrender, Peridot!"

"Steven, I told you to stay back," Pearl scolded him, casting him a severe glance. Steven raised both of his hands and stepped back a few paces, giving the two gems their space. Pearl looked directly back at Peridot, pointing her spear between her eyes. "He does have a point, though. Surrender."

"Like hell I will!" Peridot spat, and she tried to stand, but the emptiness where her foot should have been made her stumble and crumple before Pearl like a fallen leaf. She looked up, defiance in her dark eyes.

"Seems like you don't have much choice." Pearl stepped forward and gripped Peridot by her bicep. She yanked the other gem up with force, making Peridot yelp. "Come on. The others will want to see you."

Peridot struggled, trying to hop away on one foot. "Let me go, you clod!"

"Did no one teach you any manners?" Pearl's tone was cool and collected, and with surprising strength, she pulled Peridot up the stairs with little effort. Steven padded behind the two gems nervously. Peridot glared at him with hate. Not because it was any of his fault, but because he happened to be there, and she needed to hate something in her line of sight.

Amethyst and Garnet were already waiting in the living room, shocked expressions on their faces when Pearl tossed Peridot onto the floor at their feet. "Steven found her under the house," she said, clipped and serious. "What do we do with her?"

"Pummel her!" Amethyst said, readying her whip, but Garnet held out a hand to stop her. "Hey, what gives?"

"We don't do things that way," she said. Staring hard at Peridot, who looked back at her through gritted teeth, Garnet said, "Restrain her by the arms and legs and let her sit on the couch."

"Is that really a good idea?" Amethyst asked.

"With this one? She'll run her mouth before she even realizes what she's doing."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Peridot snapped, the bridge of her nose scrunching up with disdain.

"So you are," replied Garnet. Amethyst used her whip to restrain Peridot, but under Garnet's careful instruction, bound her at the elbows and knees instead of wrists and ankles. It was a pain, but the knots were strong and didn't give Peridot room to struggle.

For Steven's own protection, Garnet and Amethyst kept him out of the house during the night, opting to let him sleep at Connie's house. Peridot hadn't talked all day and Garnet was worried that she was planning something. Pearl was left on duty to watch over the prisoner. Pearl didn't mind. Sentry duty was all too familiar to her.

Spear laying lazily in her lap, Pearl stared out the screen window. The water was calm tonight, which almost made her laugh, because the tension in the house could have been cut with a knife. So long as Peridot wasn't talking, Pearl wasn't going to give her anything to get under her skin with.

Eventually, she heard Peridot shift in place. Pearl gripped her spear, ready to chastise and possibly put the other gem back into submission, but she saw that Peridot had simply adjusted her body so that she could look out the window, too. The sky was clear and full of stars, and the crescent moon hung over the black ocean peacefully. Peridot said nothing, just stared out into space.

Pearl watched her carefully. Peridot didn't seem to either notice or care that Pearl was looking. Her chin leaned awkwardly on the arm of the couch, and her eyes were wide as saucers. Pearl tilted her head to the side, puzzled. What was she playing at?

Peridot's eyes then began to water, and her features scrunched up. Even though it was dark in the house, the silvery moonlight showed Pearl that Peridot's face was dark and flushed, and her bottom lip quivered violently. Pearl's lips parted, the beginning of a question hanging on them for dear life. She was just about to speak when suddenly a choked wheeze escaped from Peridot. This was followed by several more, until bright tears poured from the corners of the green gem's eyes and she broke down into loud, harsh sobs.

"I just wanna go home," she wailed, hiding her face. "Why won't she come for me? She- she promised me... she  _promised_ ..."

Pearl didn't say anything. She looked away to allow the captured gem to preserve the last of her dignity, quickly falling apart. Her chest burned with guilt. Feeling abandoned by someone? She knew that feeling well.

"I almost feel sorry for you," Pearl said eventually. She was intentionally echoing something Peridot had said the last time they met. The only difference was here was that Pearl actually meant it.

Peridot looked up, shocked, and quickly attempted to wipe her snot-covered face on her shoulder to dry it. "Y-yeah, so what? Who cares what you think?" she growled, avoiding looking at Pearl. Peridot then turned away, facing the back of the couch. That was fine with Pearl, for now she could carefully watch Peridot's hands and make sure she wasn't up to no good. There were only a few more hours left until dawn. Pearl was certain they would be silent, and they were.


	2. Pearlidot - Goodbye Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was "Goodbye kiss." Because I enjoy watching people suffer.

The faulty electronic aboard Yellow Diamond’s recon ship exploded around them. “Stay back,” Peridot hissed, shoving Pearl into the back of the cell. Pearl gripped tightly at Peridot’s shirt, digging her nails in as deep as she could.

“Traitor!” she hissed. “You promised us we were your friends! And you sold us out!”

“You are my friends,” Peridot whispered, urgency creeping into her tone. “Please, just let me do this. I’m going to find an opening and strike then.”

“And how am I supposed to believe you?! You sold us out, Peridot!” Pearl balled one of her dainty hands into a fist and smashed it against the green metal. “We made you a Crystal Gem, and you’ve been working for her the whole time!”

“She doesn’t know I’m a Crystal Gem! Don’t you understand?”

The air was hot and heavy as the statement set in. “…So you’re double-crossing her?” Pearl asked, raising an eyebrow.

Peridot nodded quietly. “Something like that. Please, please just trust me. I need you to trust me for this to work.”

Pearl looked hesitant, not sure if the trust was warranted. But at last, she gave in, slumping her shoulders with a sigh. “All right. I trust you.”

“Thank you.” Peridot knelt down next to Pearl, who was sitting at the back wall, away from the faulty door. Gingerly, she touched her face with her odd, floating fingers. “I’m coming back for you.”

“I know.”

Peridot leaned in, tilting Pearl’s chin towards her, and before she could second-guess herself this time, like she had so many times before, closed the space between their lips in a gentle kiss. Pearl squeaked, surprised. Peridot pulled back nervously. “S-sorry… I just… I’ve been thinking about that for a while and things are really bad and I just…” She moved to stand up, adding, “I understand if you hate me.”

Pearl yanked Peridot back down by the front of her shirt, closing the gap between them once more. Pearl’s lips moved desperately against Peridot’s, and it took her a moment to realize that this was actually happening. Peridot returned it, quickly but fiercely, before pulling away.

“I have to go now,” she said. “They’ll see us. But I promise I’m coming back for you.”

Pearl nodded, wiping something out of her eyes. Peridot didn’t have time to look, hastily opening the wild field of electricity and running out to meet Yellow Diamond.

 


	3. Pearlidot - College

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl/Peridot human!college!AU. Pearl's next door neighbor has a cat and it's finally gotten on her last nerve.

If the smell didn't kill her, the noise would.

Pearl didn't terribly mind the _idea_ of cats. Aesthetically, she found them pleasing. Wide eyes, narrow limbs, lithe bodies, built for hunting and killing perfection, all while being pretty adorable. But in practice, cats were drooly, hairy, smelly, and _loud._ She was trying to study. Cats weren't even allowed in the dorms!

Well, she had thought that at first, but then she remembered that emotional support animals were a thing, and she bit her tongue for a little while longer. If her next door neighbor really needed an animal companion that badly that they went through all the trouble of filling out the paperwork necessary to bring it here, then who was she to get in her face about it?

But by the fifth week of constant cat screeching and stink, Pearl just couldn't handle it anymore. Her midterms would be coming up soon and she was already slipping in one of her classes. Gritting her teeth, she held her key card in one hand (so she didn't get locked out of her own room) and walked outside. She could hear the faint echo of techno music thumping inside the room as she knocked, and she was half tempted to knock louder when she finally got an answer.

"J-just a minute!" The voice was raspy and high-pitched. Had Pearl been in a better mood, she might have thought it uniquely cute. The music stopped and she could hear the girl inside hushing at something, voice frantic. Finally, the door opened, and the girl's messy, huge hair was the first thing Peridot saw. Then her giant, black eyes, wide with anxiety. A nervous grin was plastered all over her face. "H-hi, you're my neighbor Pearl, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I think we met at orientation," Pearl said. She shot a quick glance at the door to get the other girl's name. Peridot. Cute. 

"Well, um, how can I help you?"

Pearl felt guilty. This poor thing was clearly a nervous wreck. Still, it had to be said. "You know, I really hate to do this, actually, and I've been trying to ignore it, but you know, the walls here are really thin, and your cat..."

"Oh, Tesla!" Peridot exclaimed. At first, Pearl thought it was some unique nerd exclamation (and Pearl should have known them all, she was a math major, for Christ's sake), but when Peridot scooped up a gray tabby cat in her arms and looked it in the eyes, she realized that Tesla was the name of her personal demon. "I told you you were being too loud! Why don't you listen to me anymore? You were so good at home..."

"Um, the smell is also a little, uh, strong," Pearl added, feeling awful. She seemed really, really nice. Just... kind of strange. But not in an uncomfortable way. Just different. "L-listen, I'm really not mad or anything, please don't be upset. It's just, I'm in the honors program..."

"Oh, I am too," Peridot added, clutching the cat to her chest. "Computer science/engineering double major. I'm really, really sorry."

"No, no! It's okay! Um, is he your...?"

"Oh, yeah, he's a therapy animal," Peridot said, petting him behind his ear. "I had an accident about a year ago and he helps keep me calm enough to go to school."

"I see," Pearl replied. "Well, um, I'm right next door if you need anything."

Peridot smiled, her crooked teeth giving her a look that was so innocent Pearl's heart melted in her chest. "Thanks! That's really nice of you. And I'm really sorry that Tesla's been bothering you so much. I'll try to give him less catnip so he's not so noisy, and maybe that'll help with the smell too. I swear, he never used to mark like this..."

"He might be uncomfortable because of new surroundings," Pearl offered. "You should get a few more of his things from home, if you can. And maybe playing with him will help, too."

"Oh, you have a cat?" Peridot asked.

"Me? Oh, no, no, I'm - I'm not really a pet sort of person." Realizing how heartless that made her sound, Pearl quickly amended her statement. "I mean, I  _like_ pets! I just, I don't have any. I like reading about them more."

Peridot shrugged. "That's fair, they're not for everyone."

"Yeah..." Feeling the conversation die off, Pearl quickly pulled out her phone. "Hey, um, if you ever need someone to play with your cat while you're in class or something, you can text me or whatever."

"Oh, that's a great idea! I don't have too many friends on campus so that would be really helpful." Peridot pulled her phone out of her pocket, safely tucked in a neon green case, and gave it to Pearl to put her number in. Pearl did the same, quickly punching in her name and digits. The two swapped back, sending quick test texts to make sure the information had been stored correctly.

"Sending... Oh, got it! Perfect." Pearl clicked her phone back into sleep mode and nodded. "Well, I really should get back to studying. Miderms coming up soon and all that."

"Yeah, I've got a big project to work on. Coding, ugh." Peridot rolled her eyes. "But it was really nice talking to you! Do you wanna grab something at the dining hall with me later?"

"Um, sure! Yeah, I'd like that."

"Cool! I should be done in like, an hour and a half. I'll just knock and let you know."

Pearl smiled softly, suddenly feeling weird and tingly all over. "Sounds great. See you then."

"Mm-hmm, bye!" Peridot gracefully closed her door, and Pearl went back into her own room. She found herself staring at the contact info that Peridot had stored in her phone. The girl had put a happy cat emoji next to her name.

Maybe she could grow to like cats a little more, after all.


	4. RosePearl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flower meme prompt for RosePearl.

_Camellia - "my destiny is in your hands"_

_Gladiolus - "you pierce my heart"_

* * *

There was a flash of light, a scream, the shrill cry of an infant, and then nothing.

Pearl wouldn't realize until much later that the scream had been her own. For now, the room was silent except for the baby's fussing. Pearl stared hard at the wiggling, pink creature. It had the thinnest coat of black hair on its head, and chubby, round limbs, and Rose's round, pink gem, right at the center of his belly. Just like her.

Pearl reached forward, longing to touch it, but Greg -  _Greg_ \- scooped it up in his arms. "Hey there, little guy," he said, his voice a hoarse croak, like a toad. It made the hair on the back of Pearl's neck stand up. Made her fists ball up tight. She hated that voice, hated the face it came from, hated the man speaking. This was his fault,  _his fault._ If he had never showed up, if Amethyst had never talked to him, if Rose had just left the humans well enough alone like she  _should have_ -

"It's me," Greg said, breaking Pearl from her internal monologue. "It's your daddy. Huh? Are you happy to see me?"

The infant cooed softly, his squinty eyes beginning to open.

"Oh, you're just perfect." Greg lifted the baby close to his face and kissed its forehead. "Just like your mom." At this, Greg began to tear up, and held the baby close to his chest.

"She loved you, little guy," Greg told him, sobbing. "She - she loved you  _so_ much, more than anyone in the world."

Pearl broke into a harsh, awful sob, and she clamped her hand around her mouth to keep the sounds from escaping. She bit into her palm.

"What are you gonna call him?" Amethyst asked, her voice soft.

"Rose said to name him... Steven." Greg wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at his child, with a big smile on his face. "Steven Quartz Universe. That's your name, little guy. Do you like it?"

The child -  _Steven_ , what an utterly  _ridiculous_ name - cooed again. It stretched its little hand out towards Greg, chirping oddly.

Pearl couldn't take it anymore. "Congratulations," she spat, the word hitting as fast an hard as a snake bite, before opening the door and closing it shut. She didn't slam. She hated slamming doors. It was immature. She could hear the soft protests of, "Pearl, wait!" She just didn't care.

Pearl walked for what seemed like hours, towards the garden where the thick moss Rose loved so much grew. It gurgled at her presence, lapping at her feet. She kicked it aside, furious.

"Why did you  _leave me_ , Rose?!" At first she thought she had simply thought this, but the hoarseness in her throat combined with the sudden screech and flight of a wild bird informed her that she had screamed aloud. She didn't care. "Didn't you understand that I  _needed_ you? That I  _loved_ you?!"

She crumpled, folding to the ground. The moss touched her hands and knees, stroking. She ignored it. "I'm just a pearl," she whimpered to the empty air. "I know that. But I thought... I thought I was good enough for you. Why did you have to go and pick  _him_ ?"

The moss made a sound like a whimper, folding itself around her wrist, feeling like a sympathetic hand. Pearl's gem touched the soil, too weak to hold herself up. "Because now you're gone, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself."


	5. Lapithyst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flower meme prompt, I chose Lapithyst with these two.

_Camellia - "my destiny is in your hands"_

_Witch hazel - a spell_

* * *

"So, does this stuff actually work?" Amethyst asked, looking at the book in Lapis Lazuli's hands. She had told Amethyst that it was an old book of ancient gem spells, back when gems relied on their magic more than their technology. Amethyst would have believed it. Technically, Lapis was older than all of them combined, but her being stuck in the mirror for so long had prevented her from aging to be any older than Amethyst.

Lapis shrugged. "To an extent. But I figured we could try one anyway."

"Cool!" Amethyst hopped off the rock and rushed forward towards Lapis's makeshift altar. She didn't really believe in any gods, but apparently it was important to at least pretend for the spell to work. "So, what kind of magic are we cookin' up today?"

"Well," Lapis said, and Amethyst could feel that she was about to talk about something in the way Pearl talked about things, which is to say, at length and in great detail. "What I'm planning to do is enchant these two bracelets here with a telepathy spell." Lapis held them gingerly in her fingers. Identical thin, silver bracelets - the real thing, not a plated fake, gems could just _tell._ "That way, when both parties are wearing them at the same time, they can communicate using only their minds."

"Sounds cool," Amethyst said. "But are you _sure_ that it's gonna work? I mean, that sounds like a lot of magic. A _lot._ "

"Oh, I'm aware. That's where you come in." Seeing the confused look on Amethyst's face, Lapis grinned. "See, I've never gotten them to work before, but that's because I've always tried to enchant both bracelets by myself. _But_ , if I have _you_ here with me to help with the enchantment, then it just might work."

"Oh, I get it."Amethyst blinked before another thought set in. "Hey, wait, so you want to be able to talk to me in my head?"

"That's the idea." Lapis rolled the pieces of metal one by one in an assortment of dried leaves and flowers, the sound a soft scrape against the baked clay.

"...Why? Wouldn't you rather be able to talk to Steven, or Garnet, or hell, Pearl? Although you'd never be able to get her to stop talking."

Lapis smiled softly, still focusing on the bracelets. Still, she reached one hand out to playfully tousle Amethyst's hair. "You're my best friend, I already want to talk to you all the time."

Best friend? Wow. That was a lot coming from Lapis, who preferred to be alone most of the time. "Well... thanks. I wouldn't mind being able to talk to you in your head either. Oh my gosh, can you _imagine_ the pranks we could pull if we never had to risk blowing our cover?"

Lapis giggled. "That's the spirit!" Suddenly, she plucked a hair from her head and dropped it into the bowl. "Okay, now I'm gonna need a strand of your hair."

"Jeez, I'll look like Greg if you have me help you with magic stuff too often." Still, Amethyst obliged her request and pulled a few strands from her head. She placed them in Lapis's open palm, and Lapis in turned mixed the bracelets, the dried plants, and the hair with her hands. Amethyst could hear her mumbling to herself in a language she didn't understand - maybe old gem language? Pearl had mentioned that it had evolved over time, but Amethyst wouldn't have known.

"And now we wait," Lapis announced, placing a lid over the bowl.

Amethyst blinked. "That's it?"

"That's it until the moon comes out, anyway."

"Lapis, it's like, eleven o'clock in the morning."

She grinned, shrugging her shoulders. "I got excited?"

Amethyst chuckled, patting Lapis's thin bicep. "Unreal." She then jabbed Lapis in the side with her elbow. "But also, listen - even if that hocus pocus stuff doesn't work, you can still talk to me whenever, all right?"

Lapis grinned. "Yeah, we might wanna maybe not wear those even if they do work."

"Why?"

"'Cause if one of us dies, the other one goes with."

Amethyst's stomach sank. "Lapis, what the hell."

Lapis stared hard for a few silent moments before she cackled. "I'm _kidding_ , oh my gosh. I can't believe you fell for that."

" _Lapis,_ you are the _worst_!"


	6. Lapithyst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was "Giggly kiss." I chose Lapithyst. Because they are shitlords.

“Gotcha!” Lapis’s thin arms wrapped tightly around Amethyst’s belly, eliciting a giggle from the short, purple gem. “You really suck at hide and seek.”

Amethyst stretched, leaning back into Lapis with an exaggerated yawn. “Not my fault you decided to count so high. I got bored.”

“Twenty is perfectly acceptable!”

“Says you. You have a little more experience than I do when it comes to being completely stationary, if you recall correctly.” Amethyst grabbed a lock of her wild, white hair and tickled Lapis’s cute button nose with it.

“Hey, that wasn’t my choice! And quit putting your hair in my face!” Lapis used her powers to pull a small wave from the ocean to splash Amethyst right in the face. Amethyst sputtered and tried to dry herself off with her hands as best she could.

“All right, all right, enough with the sea water already!” Amethyst’s loud cackle frightened a dozing gull nearby, which made Lapis laugh even harder. Amethyst’s deep belly laugh softened to a gentle giggle as she looked at her taller, skinnier companion. “You’re real cute when you laugh, y'know.”

Lapis tossed her hair confidently, a sly grin lighting her features. “I’m cute all the time.”

“Don’t I know it?” Amethyst took Lapis’s hands in hers and stood on her tiptoes to peck her on the lips. Lapis giggled, holding the back of Amethyst’s head and returning her kiss eagerly. She tousled Amethyst’s hair in her thin fingers, delighting in how soft and shiny it was.

Yeah, as far as Lapis was concerned, hide and seek was way better with people who sucked at hiding.

 


	7. Pearlidot - Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on my phone like five hundred years ago and never put it here. A damn shame.

“You promised me that you would love me,” she says, twining your limbs together. Her breath is hot on your lips and she is so close and the water threatens to lap at your toes and you do not care. “Do you intend to keep that promise?”

Her lips stay parted after she stops talking, the sweetest invitation for a kiss that you, in your short life, have ever seen. More than ever, you want to hold her pink hair beneath your fingers and lock your lips together and never part. She is now every star in your sky and you are a lowly astronomer, hopelessly lost in her splendor.

“Yes,” is all you say instead, leaning in and kissing her. Then the word pours like water from your lips and you drown her in it. “Yes, yes, yes.” You kiss her more times than you can count. She tastes like sweetness and the sea. You have never craved any flavor so badly.

She pulls away, just for a second, to stare at you with her wide, beautiful eyes. “Then I intend to love you as well.”

“Don’t you already?”

“Yes.”

You could not be happier.


	8. Pearlidot - Pearlidotbomb Day 1 - Redemption/Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first day of the Pearlidotbomb, "Redemption/Recovery." Contains spoilers for episode 70, "Catch and Release."

Peridot hated being without her limb enhancers. There was something about being her small self that just made her feel... vulnerable. Yes, that was the word. Vulnerable. Like someone could attack her at any second and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was a constant ball of anxiety deep in her gut.

But, of course, the Crystal Gems didn't want her to have them. Finding out that they had been thrown into the ocean had been like a bunch in the gut. Not only were they gone, but they were now useless forever should they ever find them. Those things hadn't been easy to come by, she'd snapped at them. Yellow Diamond had had them made specifically for her mission on Earth.

And now they were gone forever, and she was small again.

Peridot curled up under the blanket. She'd begun to venture out of the bathroom when the Crystal Gems were on missions, though, for the most part, she just took up residence on the couch. It was a sleepy autumn afternoon, with the slightest pitter patter of rain tapping the roof. She stole one of the fluffy blankets off of Steven's bed and wrapped herself up in it so that her body from the nose down was hidden.

"Peridot?" Steven said, nudging her shoulder. He had been upstairs watching TV and only came down when Peridot had disturbed him. "Y'know, if you wanted my blanket, you could have just asked. It's not nice to take things without asking."

"That's ironic, coming from you." Venom dripped from the words.

Steven groaned. "Look, I'm sorry Amethyst threw away your arms and legs-"

"Yeah, well, _sorry_ isn't gonna cut it." There was a short pause and she cast her gaze up at the boy. "But it wasn't your fault so... I guess I shouldn't be mad at you."

"Uh...?"

"Can I keep this for a little while? I'll give it back." Peridot flapped her arms under the blanket to gesture to it, making her look like a large, puffy chicken.

"Um, I guess, if you want."

The screen door squeaked open. "Steven, we're back!" Greg's voice sounded.

Steven gasped, jumping down the two remaining steps and running towards his father. "Dad! Dad, Dad, you gotta meet Peridot!"

"Peridot?" Greg echoed. "Wasn't she the-"

"Yeah, yeah, she  _was_ on the bad guys' side, but now she's with us!" Steven took his father by the hand and walked him over to the couch, bursting with excitement. "Peridot, this is my dad. He's really cool. Dad, this is Peridot! Say hi!"

Greg chuckled nervously. "Uh, hey there, sport."

"I'm not a child," Peridot mumbled, pulling her chin over the blanket. "Hello."

"Uh, she's a... charming one, son. Hey, so, we just got back from the store," Greg said, turning to Steven to change the subject. He lifted the brown paper bag he was carrying in his free arm. "Come help us put everything away."

"Okay! Peridot, you stay here and be good!"

Peridot rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm gonna go anywhere without my limb enhancers."

"Great! Be right back!" Steven then turned and took the bag from Greg, nearly toppling from its weight.

Peridot watched intently as the two humans worked to put the items inside away, and watched more intently when the other Crystal Gems helped. Pearl glanced over her shoulder at one point, quirking an eyebrow.

"Are you going to help us?" she asked.

Peridot grumbled, hiding her face. She wasn't going to give the (much, much) taller gem a response, not after she was complicit in her limb enhancers being destroyed.

Pearl huffed. "Fine, be that way."

Later that night, Peridot relinquished the blanket back to Steven and took up residence in the bathroom. She felt comfortable laying inside the tub. It was a small, confined space with just enough room for her limbs to stretch. She felt safer there. The only thing she hated was not knowing how much time had passed. With her limb enhancers, she could summon a clock to let her know exactly what time it was at any point. Now she had to rely on external clocks, which did not appear to be as abundant as she'd hoped. Perhaps it had been hours since she'd gone in there, perhaps it had been mere minutes, but at some point during the night, there was a gentle rapping at the door.

"Peridot?"

Peridot sat up, confused. That wasn't Steven calling to her, as she was used to. "What?" she barked.

"It's Pearl. Can we talk for a second?"

"No!" Peridot snarled instantly, but then paused. Well.. Steven had assured her the others wouldn't kill her, and out of all of them, this one seemed to be the most harmless. So... "Wait. You know what? Come in. We can talk."

A short pause, then the door handle jiggled and Pearl stepped inside. She flicked on the light, making Peridot blink to adjust her eyes. "Listen, Peridot, I know we got off on the wrong foot -"

"How long were you waiting to use that one?" Peridot quipped, resting her cheek in her hand as she slumped over the side of the tub.

Pearl stopped, thought for a moment, then groaned. "That wasn't intentional."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"It _wasn't_." Pearl sat on the toilet seat, looking at Peridot in the eye. "Anyway, like I was saying... I wanted to... well, apologize for how messy things started. But, Garnet, Amethyst, and I -"

"And Steven?"

Pearl bit her lip, her nose scrunching just a tiny bit with annoyance. "Yes, and Steven, if you would _let me finish._ "

Peridot lifted her hands in surrender, letting Pearl continue uninterrupted.

Pearl, after waiting a moment to see if Peridot was going to keep quiet, said, "We've decided that in order for you to trust us, we should return your limb enhancers back to you. So, we're going to do that."

"That's very touching," said Peridot, sounding entirely unaffected, "but there's one problem with that. You threw them. In the ocean."

"I'm aware," Pearl grumbled. "Which is why I'm going to be building you a new set."

"You? Build my _limb enhancers_?" Peridot snorted, holding her belly as she cackled. "Oh you Crystal Crumblers are _rich_!"

"I built a functioning rocketship out of human trash," Pearl said defensively. "Making a new set of limb enhancers with good quality product will not be hard. I am much older than you. I was a technician before you were even a grain of sand."

Peridot pouted. "Fine. As long as I get to make the blueprint."

"Fair enough," Pearl said. She stood and began to walk out. Peridot's stomach lurched. She was just going to leave like that, without even saying goodbye?

"Hey," she blurted.

Pearl turned her head. "Yes?"

"Um... thanks. For this."

A faint smile crossed Pearl's features so fast that Peridot knew if she had blinked, she'd have missed it. "You're welcome. Good night, Peridot."

"Yeah... Night."

As Pearl shut the door behind her, Peridot sank into the tub, realizing she'd forgotten to ask what time it was.


	9. Pearlidot - A Work in Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More phonefic, a story in ten parts.

i.

There’s always a first time you notice.

It’s when they’re working together in the barn and Pearl brushes her hand against her shoulder as she reaches for a screwdriver.

“Oops, sorry,” she says. Peridot grunts, thinking she didn’t need to apologize at all.

ii.

It happens again a few days later, when Pearl is adjusting her capture-string around her chest. Peridot notices how deftly her fingers move, how easily this comes to her. She feels a tightness in her throat. She lets it go.

iii.

Peridot finds herself becoming envious of the tools in Pearl’s hands. What a ridiculous feeling. She keeps stealing glances, telling herself it’s simply to compare progress. Pearl’s almost done by the end of the day. Peridot has made no progress.

iv.

Eventually she begins to talk to Pearl about design plans in the home as well. She doesn’t understand why she wants a pearl to approve of her ideas so badly. But then again, this one isn’t like other pearls. She’s Pearl, capital P, a truly one of a kind gem. Peridot envies her.

v.

Garnet unfuses for the first time in front of her. And when Peridot sees how Ruby and Sapphire act, she feels sick.

Not because she is repulsed, but because she understands.

vi.

She’s terribly frightened.

Slinking in the shadows late at night, hiding behind tables and couches and chairs, she watches Pearl watch Steven. She’s so doting, Peridot notices. She is so doting and kind and wonderful and Peridot has a gnawing in her belly when she looks at her, a unique type of greed that she doesn’t understand.

vii.

Peridot feels nervous when she talks to Pearl now. Her knees wobble, her heart palpitates in an unusual pattern, her skin begins to moisten in a disgusting fashion that she tries to ignore.

“Are you sick?” Pearl asks her, blue sky-colored eyes filled with worry.

“In a way,” is all Peridot can manage to say. “But I’ll be fine.”

viii.

“Do you love her?” Steven asks. She hates this, hates feeling so ill, hates relying on others to help her stand on her own two feet. Hates hearing an eight-year-old boy, a mere newborn, ask her a question she tried so hard to avoid asking herself.

“I don’t know,” is the honest response she gives him. “But maybe.”

He beams. “Good.” She doesn’t understand why he says this.

ix.

Peridot’s hands shake and quiver. She has to know. She has to tell her. This can’t go on like this any longer.

With trepidation, she steps forward.

“Pearl?”

Pearl turns, looks down at her but not on her. “Yes?”

Moment of truth.

x.

“I want to be yours.”


End file.
